THE safety of Oxfordshire's building sites is to come under increased scrutiny in a new programme of inspections.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) representatives will turn up unannounced at sites in the county throughout this month.
The HSE said it is targeting refurbishment work after deaths in the sector rose 61 per cent nationally between 2005/06 and 2006/07. In 2006/07, there were 48 major injuries and one fatality recorded on building sites in Oxfordshire.
Charles Gilby, the county's HSE's principal inspector of construction, said: "It is totally unacceptable that so many lives have been lost."
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